Kevin Mullan

Published:20:00Tuesday 01 August 2017

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A Derry-based cyber security company that specialises in preventing people’s files, photos and data being stolen when they store them on shared networks and servers, referred to by those selling services in the electronic communications sector as ‘the cloud’, has been nominated for two prestigious awards.

Data and images shared on third party servers like Google’s (Drive) and Apple’s (iCloud) are famously vulnerable to cyber-criminals as was discovered by several Hollywood celebrities when their personal photos were hacked from the latter’s storage facility in 2014.

But Metacompliance, run by Derry man, Robert O’Brien, which helps prevent these kinds of security breaches and now the firm’s been recognised by its peers at the Computing Cloud Excellence Awards.

It’s been nominated for a ‘Cloud Security Product of the Year’ award for its MetaPhish solution, and is also in the running for an award for ‘Best Overall Use of Cloud’.

MetaPhish essentially mimics ‘phishing’ software - sent by criminals via email and other messaging formats in a bid to gain access to people’s and organisations’ systems - and is designed to be used as an educational tool by companies.

Mr. O’Brien said: “We are delighted to be nominated for two awards at the Cloud Excellence awards.

“As a company, we have moved with the times and cloud has been a huge part of this.

“This cloud functionality means we can have a best in class suite of products that can be hosted on cloud, and easily enables organisations to become cyber aware and compliant under one roof.

“These award nominations are a recognition of us as a company at the forefront of cloud security.”

The winners will be revealed at a glitzy award ceremony in central London on Wednesday, September 20, 2017.